Bulletin – Sunday, January 19, 2025 – Second Sunday after Epiphany
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Second Sunday after Epiphany
We Gather as People of Faith
Welcome
Announcements
Lighting the Christ Candle
Call to Worship
One: God calls us to live life fully.
All: We seek to be God’s people.
One: The Apostle Paul says, “There are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit,
All: There are varieties of services but the same Lord.”
One: We hear these words and know that we are gifted people.
All: We are gifted and called to serve.
Hymn – “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise” (VU #101)
Song of thankfulness and praise, Jesus Christ, to you we raise,
Manifested by the star to the sages from afar,
Branch of royal David’s stem in your birth at Bethlehem;
Anthems be to you addressed, God in flesh made manifest.
Manifest at Jordan’s stream, Prophet, Priest, and King supreme;
And at Cana wedding guest, in your Godhead manifest;
Manifest in power divine, changing water into wine;
Anthems be to you addressed, God in flesh made manifest.
Manifest in making whole palsied limbs and fainting soul;
Manifest in valiant fight, quelling all the devil’s might,
Manifest in gracious will, ever bringing good from all;
Anthems be to you addressed, God in flesh made manifest.
Grant us grace to see you, Lord, mirrored in your holy Word;
With your grace our lives endow, grace to imitate you now,
That we like to you may be at your great epiphany,
Anthems be to you addressed, God in flesh made manifest.
Prayer of Approach and Confession
One: Holy God, come to us and surround us with your care. Inspire us to live your love and grace.
All: Holy God, we gather as your people. We know that we have failed to live your love as we should. We have not cared for your planet. We have not treasured our gifts. We have listened to our own voices over Your Word. Help us to open ourselves to you. Help us to remember that you are always with us. Help us to live as you intend, for we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Sung Response – “Gloria” (VU #37)
Gloria, gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, gloria, alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to God, glory to God, glory in the highest!
Glory to God, glory to God, hallelujah, hallelujah!
Epiphany Words
We Hear God’s Word
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
to another the working of power deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Scripture Reading: John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.” So they took it.
When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Hymn – “Many are the Lightbeams” (VU #588)
Many are the lightbeams from the one light.
Our one light is Jesus.
Many are the lightbeams from the one light;
We are one in Christ.
Many are the branches of the one tree.
Our one tree is Jesus.
Many are the branches of the one tree;
We are one in Christ.
Many are the gifts given, love is all one.
Love’s the gift of Jesus.
Many are the gifts given, love is all one;
We are one in Christ.
Many ways to serve God, the Spirit is one,
Servant spirit of Jesus.
Many ways to serve God, the Spirit is one;
We are one in Christ.
Many are the members, the body is one,
Members all of Jesus.
Many are the members, the body is one;
We are one in Christ.
Meditation
Anthem – “Cana Wine”
Some friends of mine got married about three days ago,
I could take you to the place down the valley just below.
But I think I’ll stay up here a time and enjoy the sweet warm glow,
That has come with the taste of Cana wine.
It was just a simple wedding feast, you know the kind I mean,
Holding hands, holding hearts and holding fast to all their dreams.
But somehow I got the feeling it was more that first it seemed,
Must have been from the taste of Cana wine.
Cana wine, Cana wine, working on my heart and mind;
Flowing free, filling me, ‘til I lose all sense of time.
Cana wine, pure and fine, from the fairest of all vines;
Come, sit down, and we’ll share some Cana wine.
I didn’t have that much to drink, but I never felt so tall,
The wine was finding empty holes I hadn’t known at all.
It touched the deepest hurts in me, ‘til it found and filled my soul,
Never tasted the like of Cana wine.
That marriage down in Cana brought new lift to my friends,
I bless them and I wish them all the fullness life can bring.
But a new life’s rising in me too, like an overflowing stream,
And it comes from the taste of Cana wine.
Cana wine, Cana wine, working on my heart and mind;
Flowing free, filling me, ‘til I lose all sense of time.
Cana wine, pure and fine, from the fairest of all vines;
Come, sit down, and we’ll share some Cana wine.
We Respond to God’s Word
An Invitation to Share
Offering Sung Response – “Grant Us, God, the Grace” (VU #540)
Grant us, God, the grace of giving;
With a spirit large and free,
That ourselves and all our living
We may offer faithfully.
Offering Prayer
Prayers of the People
Prayer Jesus Taught Us
All: Our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
We Go Into God’s World
Hymn – “Sing a New Church into Being”
Summoned by the God who made us
Rich in our diversity,
Gathering in the name of Jesus,
Richer still in unity.
Let us bring the gifts that differ
And in splendid, varied ways,
Sing a new church into being,
One in faith and love and praise.
Trust the goodness of creation;
Trust the Spirit strong within.
Dare to dream the vision promised,
Sprung from see of what has been.
Let us bring the gifts that differ
And in splendid, varied ways,
Sing a new church into being,
One in faith and love and praise.
Bring the hopes of ev’ry nation;
Bring the art of ev’ry race.
Weave a song of peace and justice;
Let it sound through time and space.
Let us bring the gifts that differ
And in splendid, varied ways,
Sing a new church into being,
One in faith and love and praise.
Benediction
Sung Response – “Called as Partners in Christ’s Service”
Called as partners in Christ’s service,
Called to ministries of grace,
We response with deep commitment
Fresh new lines of faith to trace.
May we learn the art of sharing,
Side by side and friend with friend,
Equal partners in our caring
To fulfill God’s chosen end.
